Heavy storms often turn adrift packages of macro algae. Such packages form habitats for small organisms and occur often in coastal waters. Algae packages found in front of the Belgian coast will originate from the rocky shores along the French and British coasts in the Channel area.
The projects aims at studying the fauna associated with these packages and their role as vectors for the organisms inhabiting them. The study will collect data on species occurrence of both the algae packages and the surrounding waters, relate abundances with the size of the packages, the distance to the coast, species of algae and general abiotic factors, evaluate whether these packages function as islands with their own specific species fauna and gain insight on migration patterns of the associated fauna between the rocky shores of the Channel and the artificial substrates present along the Belgian coast.